Although she was suffering, her face showed no expression. in Tetun
Maski nia terus, nia oin la hatudu espresaun.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
Possession
nia / nian — possession
nia'nia' goes BEFORE the thing possessed; 'nian' goes AFTER. Both function the same way; position decides which form. 'nia' is also the 3rd-person pronoun (he / she / it) — disambiguate by position.
Negation
la — 'not' (general negation)
laPlaced before verbs and adjectives to negate them. For contrastive 'not X but Y' use 'laós'; for 'not yet' use 'seidauk'; for 'no longer' wrap 'la ... ona' around the verb.
More patterns like these in the Tetun grammar guide.
Translate your own text with the free English ↔ Tetun translator or look up individual words in the Tetun dictionary.
Related phrases
- Nia namoradu ne'e hais nia to'o lima sén mós la iha nia isin!Her boyfriend bled her dry till she didn't even have five cents left on her!
- Feto ne'e oin aat loos. Nia presiza make-up para halo oin di'ak oituan.This woman has a very ugly face. She needs makeup to beautify her face a bit.
- Tia sikat ulsuku iha fuuk.Auntie stuck her hairpin through her hair.
- Maria sateia hela de'it nia amá tanba osan.Maria keeps hassling her mother (to give her) money.
- Labarik ida tanis hakilar maka'as loos tanba nia mamá baku.A child cried very loudly because her mother hit her.
- Labarik ne'e fó ulun eskola, di'ak liu ita suporta nia.This kid really works at her schooling, we should support her.